About: A Forray into Cocktail Culture

Two birds with one stone: I would earn a little food-&-drink money and strike an item off my bucket list. That is why I started bartending at a one of the eight bars near campus. At $2 for a light beer and $2.50 for a flavored Bacardi & diet we were among the more expensive bars in the area—which means that fancy techniques and exotic ingredients were not on the docket. Regardless, I fell in love with the craft, and came to realize that a career in landscape architecture was never going to satisfy me like a career making people happy through booze.

I made the move to downtown Champaign, Illinois in search of a more challenging bar program; where the entire kitchen was at my disposal to experiment with and create syrups, infusions, jellies, rimmers, and anything else that could result in a feature cocktail. At the student-bar I unlocked my passion for getting inside someone’s head, and finding the perfect drink for them—here I honed it.

No longer satisfied with the limitation of whatever traffic that walks through the door of a restaurant, I now endeavor to reach out to a wider audience to display my passion, offer my services, and most of all to learn. Cocktail culture is vast, vibrant, ever-evolving, delicious; and becoming immersed in it is the most exciting journey of my life. Through everything I have learned and continue to learn, here is what I have to say.

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About

@MedleyDrinkDesigns is a platform to display what I am creating—as well as learning—on my journey to provide highly customized drinks and refreshment when making a lasting impression is important to your special occasion.

What I’m Reading

Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition by Daniel Okrent

The Quartet: Orchestrating the Second American Revolution 1783-1789 by Joseph J. Ellis